FBI's Massive Facial Recognition Database Raises Privacy Concerns

The EFF filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for information on the database, which is optimistically named Next Generation Identification (NGI), and got back a raft of documents detailing the Feds’ plans. Essentially, the FBI wants to enhance its existing fingerprint database – arguably one of the most useful law enforcement tools in existence – in order to make criminal identification easier by adding a range of biometrics, including palm prints, iris scans and facial recognition data. The information would then be collected into a single record that also includes a person’s name, address, ID numbers and demographic information to present a 360-degree view of the person in question. To aid law enforcement efforts across the land, the info would be shared with other federal, tribal, state and local law enforcement agencies from coast to coast.